1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of induction resistivity in frequency or time domain measurements for evaluation of potential hydrocarbon bearing formations and assisting drilling and well placement decisions with geo-steering and geological information above, below and ahead of the bit using downhole induction instruments having reinforced metal mandrel (monitoring while drilling-MWD) or significant amounts of electrically conductive parts in or around the sensor section. The present invention provides for compensation of eddy currents induced in the tool body, which create additive error signals that interfere with resistivity measurements for automatically estimating dip angle through joint interpretation of multi-array induction and electromagnetic measurements (including high frequency “dielectric” or wave propagation ones), multi-component induction measurements for geosteering and open hole applications involving anisotropic formations.
2. Summary of the Related Art
Electromagnetic induction resistivity well logging instruments are well known in the art. These induction resistivity well logging instruments are used to determine the electrical conductivity, or its converse, resistivity, of earth formations penetrated by a borehole. Formation conductivity has been determined based on results of measuring the magnetic field due to eddy currents that the instrument induces in the formation adjoining the borehole. The electrical conductivity is used for, among other reasons, inferring the fluid content of the earth formations. Typically, lower conductivity (higher resistivity) is associated with hydrocarbon-bearing earth formations. The physical principles of electromagnetic induction well logging are well described, for example, in, J. H. Moran and K. S. Kunz, Basic Theory of Induction Logging and Application to Study of Two-Coil Sondes, Geophysics, vol. 27, No. 6, part 1, pp. 829-858, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, December 1962. Many improvements and modifications to electromagnetic induction resistivity instruments described in the Moran and Kunz reference, supra, have been devised, some of which are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,517 issued to Barber, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,605 issued to Chandler et a. and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,246 issued to Fanini et al.
The conventional geophysical induction resistivity well logging tool is a probe suitable for lowering into the borehole and it comprises a sensor section and other, primarily electrical, equipment for acquiring the data to determine the physical parameters that characterize the formation. The sensor section, or mandrel, comprises induction transmitters and receivers positioned along the instrument axis and arranged in the order according to particular instrument specifications. The electrical equipment generates an electrical voltage to be further applied to a transmitter induction coil, conditions the signals coming from receiver induction coils, processes the acquired information. The acquired data then has been stored or by means of telemetry sent to the earth's surface through a wire line cable used to lower the tool into the borehole.
In general, when using a conventional induction logging tool with transmitters and receivers (induction coils) having their magnetic moments oriented only along the borehole axis, the hydrocarbon-bearing zones are difficult to detect when they occur in multi-layered or laminated reservoirs. These reservoirs usually consist of thin alternating layers of shale and sand and, oftentimes, the layers are so thin that due to the insufficient resolution of the conventional logging tool they cannot be detected individually. In this case the average conductivity of the formation is evaluated.
Thus, in a vertical borehole, a conventional induction logging tool with transmitters and receivers (induction coils) oriented only along the borehole axis responds to the average conductivity that combines the conductivity of both sand and shale. These average readings are usually dominated by the relatively higher conductivity of the shale layers. To address this problem, loggers have turned to using transverse induction logging tools where transmitters and receivers (induction coils) have their magnetic moments oriented transversely with respect to the tool longitudinal axis. The instrument for transverse induction well logging was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,436 issued to Forgang et al.
In the transverse induction logging tools the response of transversal coil arrays or inclined coil arrays with a transverse component is also determined by an average conductivity, however, the relatively lower conductivity of hydrocarbon-bearing sand layers dominates in this estimation. In general, the volume of shale/sand in the formation can be determined from gamma-ray or nuclear well logging measurements. Then a combination of the conventional induction logging tool with the transversal induction logging tool can be used for determining the conductivity of individual shale and sand layers.
One of the main difficulties in interpreting the data acquired by a transversal induction logging tool is associated with its response vulnerability to borehole conditions. Among these conditions there are a presence of a conductive well fluid as well as well bore fluid invasion effects. A known method for reducing these unwanted impacts on a transversal induction logging tool response was disclosed in L. A. Tabarovsky and M. I. Epov, Geometric and Frequency Focusing in Exploration of Anisotropy Seams, Nauka, USSR Academy of Science, Siberian Division, Novosibirsk, pp. 67-129 (1972) and L. A. Tabarovsky and M. I. Epov, Radial Characteristics Of Induction Focusing Probes With Transverse Detectors In An Anisotropic Medium, Soviet Geology And Geophysics, 20 (1979), pp. 81-90.
The known method has been used a transversal induction logging tool comprising induction transmitters and receiver (induction coils). By irradiating a magnetic field the induction transmitter induces currents in the formation adjoining the borehole; in turn, the receivers measure a responding magnetic field due to these currents. To enable a wide range of vertical resolution and effective suppression of the unwanted borehole effects, measurements of magnetic from the formation can be obtained at different distances between the transmitter and receiver. However, even with these modifications, the data logs obtained with a conventional transversal induction logging instruments can be inconsistent, difficult to interpret, and the problems have been exacerbated while logging through a sequence of layers.
In the induction logging instruments the acquired data quality depends primarily both on parameters of the environment the tool operates in and on its intrinsic instrument its electromagnetic response characteristics. Thus, in an ideal case, the logging tool measures signals induced only by eddy currents excited in the formation by the primary magnetic field of the induction transmitter. Variations in the magnitude and phase of the eddy currents occurring in response to variations in the formation conductivity are reflected as respective variations in the output voltage of induction receivers. In conventional induction instruments these receiver voltages (or currents floating in the receiver coils) are signal conditioned and then processed using analog or digital phase sensitive detectors, primarily—algorithmically. The processing allows for determining both receiver voltage or current amplitude and phase with respect to the induction transmitter current or its magnetic field waveforms.
As in an open hole induction logging, the induction instruments currently deployed in monitoring while drilling (MWD) operations typically utilize solenoid-type transmitter and receiver induction coils coaxial with the tool mandrel. These instruments produce a “classical” set of induction measurements in the propagation mode, measuring attenuation and phase shift in the transmitted magnetic field due to the influence of the adjacent formation. Known induction tools utilize two coaxial receiver coils positioned in the center of the mandrel and two sets of balanced transmitter coils on both sides of the receiver coils. This balanced coil configuration, when operating at two frequencies of 400 kHz and 2 MHz, enables the typical known induction instrument to quantitatively evaluate eight directional horizontal formation resistivities for a plurality of investigation depths.
As a general rule for induction tool design, a high degree of magnetic coupling between the tool transmitter and the formation and the tool receiver and the formation is desirable. This high magnetic coupling between the tool transmitter/receiver and the formation facilitates increased instrument efficiency and increased overall signal to noise ratio and increases desirable sensitivity to formation parameters. However, the presence of conductive bodies typically found in the mandrel of known induction instruments becomes problematic, resulting in appearance of an additional and unavoidable magnetic coupling between these bodies and different sources of electromagnetic radiation\reception. Primarily, parasitic magnetic coupling between the transmitter, receiver and formation from one side and the conductive metal parts of the downhole tool from another side creates problems associated with parasitic eddy currents induced on the tool body surface and internal tool surfaces.
The parasitic eddy currents flowing on the surface of the downhole tool produce undesirable magnetic fields that interact with resistivity measurements as additive error components. These induced magnetic fields reduce the overall transmitter moment, couple directly into the receiver coil(s) and create undesirable offsets in measurement signals. Moreover, eddy currents on the tool body are temperature and frequency dependent that makes their adverse effects difficult, if not impossible to account and compensate for by known methods. Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus that reduces and compensates for the adverse effects of eddy currents. Any remaining effect of the eddy currents can be calibrated out in an air calibration of a tool.
The relative formation dip angle is vital for proper and accurate interpretation of data acquired by the new multi-component array induction instrument. This newly developed induction instrument comprises three mutually orthogonal transmitter-receiver arrays. These configurations allow for determining both horizontal and vertical resistivities of an anisotropic formation in vertical, deviated, and horizontal boreholes. A description of the tool can be found in WO 98/00733, Electrical logging of a laminated formation, by Beard et al (1998). The transmitters induce currents in all three spatial directions and the receivers measure the corresponding magnetic fields (Hxx, Hyy, and Hzz). In this nomenclature of the field responses, the first index indicates the direction of the transmitter, the second index denotes the receiver direction. As an example, Hzz is the magnetic field induced by a z-direction transmitter coil and measured by a z-directed receiver where the z-direction has been conventionally parallel to the borehole axis. In addition, the instrument measures all cross-components of the magnetic fields, i.e., Hxy, Hxz, Hyx, Hyz, Hzx, and Hzy. In general inductive measurements can also be made in any non-orthogonal directions, for example, 20 and 40 degrees off or an orthogonal direction.
The signals acquired by the main receiver coils (Hxx, Hyy, and Hzz) are used to determine both the horizontal and vertical resistivity of the formation. This is done by inverse processing techniques of the data. These inverse processing techniques automatically adjust formation parameters in order to optimize in a cost-function for example a least-square sense measuring the data mismatch of the synthetic tool responses with measured data. Required inputs in this process are accurate information of the relative formation dip and relative formation azimuth. This information can be derived using in addition to the main signals (Hxx, Hyy, and Hzz) from the cross-components.
Conventional induction tools comprising only coaxial transmitter-receiver coil configurations do not have azimuthal sensitivity. Therefore, in a horizontal wellbore, the data does not contain information about directionality of the formation. It is not possible to distinguish whether a layer is above or below the borehole from these data alone. There is a need to be able to determine directionality of the formation. This knowledge can be obtained using a subset or all of the cross-components of the new multi-component induction tool that allows for determination of directionality of the formation.